ATTACHMENT D DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE, Memorandum for: Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower and Reserve Affairs). Subject: Senate inquiry on programs which create or are capable of creating a better understanding of Negro history and culture. Reference is made to your memorandum, subject as above, dated July 18, 1968. The primary mission of the Air Force is to provide qualified, trained personnel capable of functioning effectively in an ever changing weapons system. Negro personnel, as well as personnel of any other race, are afforded an equal opportunity in all phases of Air Force life, whether it be job training and promotion or voluntary off-duty education. Air Force libraries make books available on a multitude of subject areas, a proportionate number of which are in the area of Negro history and culture. To the best knowledge of the Department of the Air Force there is no active phase of Air Force life where discrimination on the basis of race, color or creed is practiced, nor is special emphasis placed on the history or culture of any segment of assigned personnel. J. WILLIAM DOOLITTLE, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, Manpower and Reserve Affairs. THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE, Hon. CLAIBORNE PELL, DEAR CHAIRMAN PELL: As promised in my letter of July 24, I am sending you a report of Office of Education programs emphasizing Negro history and culture. The accompanying report gives a review of programs that significantly contribute to an understanding of Negro history and culture or have the potential to do so. The contributors are: the Bureau of Elementary and Secondary Education; the Bureau of Adult, Vocational and Library Programs; the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped; the Bureau of Research; and the Bureau of Educational Personnel Development. With the exception of the Bureau of Higher Education, each of the Bureaus administers programs that relate to Negro history and culture. The majority of these programs appear to be operated by the Bureau of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Bureau of Research. According to these reports, there are many programs which do not presently contribute to understanding in this area, but which are potentially capable of doing so without legislative amendment. Sincerely, Enclosure. WILBUR J. COHEN, Secretary. U.S. OFFICE OF EDUCATION-BUREAU OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION INTRODUCTION Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has the potential for contributing to an understanding of Negro history and culture. The programs of 17 university institutes on desegregation problems funded in Fiscal Year 1968 generally include some consideration of Negro history and culture. Short term training institutes operated by our 15 university desegregation centers frequently include some consideration of these topics. Our total program funds ($8.5 million in FY '68) are so limited, however, that proposals limited to conveying an understanding of Negro history and culture alone generally receive low priority in favor of programs dealing with the immediate and pressing administrative and organizational problems which accompany the desegregation of school districts. A great interest in improving understanding of Negro history and culture has been evident in school districts of both the north and south. BUREAU OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION-DIVISION OF PLANS AND SUPPLEMENTARY CENTERS In the last three years, the Division of Plans and Supplementary Centers funded under ESEA Title III, 18 projects costing $2 million that directly contributed to a better understanding and knowledge of Negro history and culture. Examples of such projects are attached. In addition, Title III has funded many more projects which included such activities as a component of a larger program. One of our Division programs that might be used to create better understanding of Negro history and culture is ESEA Title VIII, but as of this date, funds have not been appropriated for this Title. Information on Negro contributions to American life, both past and present, resulting from our program operation are disseminated mainly through Educational Resources Information Center indexing and microfiche distribution and through ERIC Clearing House operation. EXAMPLES OF PROJECTS FOR NEGRO HISTORY AND CULTURE (ESEA TITLE III) CALIFORNIA Stockton: Stockton Unified School District. A Model for the Study of Immediate and Future Educational Needs in a Metropolitan Area. Planning Project: OE No. 67-3844; Amount Sought: $94,101. Description: A model curriculum, designed to resolve the problems of urban education, will be developed using an interdisciplinary approach. Emphasis will be given to the eradication of racial, ethnic, and economic imbalance within the schools. Counties served: San Joaquin. Further information: James M. Reusswig, Superintendent of Schools, 701 North Madison Street, Stockton, California, 95202. (209) 466-3911. San Jose: East Side Union High School District Developing a Preventive Strategy for Meeting Tomorrow's Educational, Vocational, Ethnic and Societal Demands. Operational Project: OE No. 68–6682; Amount Sought: $49,782. Description: All segments of the community will be involved in the development of a total secondary education program that will include in its curriculums techniques to improve communication between ethnic and racial groups and to compensate for educational and cultural disadvantages. The Program will employ a number of instructional strategies designed to lower communication barriers between minority racial and ethnic groups, who in this area are largely MexicanAmerican and some Negro people. Groups of students will meet with administrators to develop a realistic student behavior code; speakers from minority groups who have attained success in a vocational field will be brought into the schools on a regular basis; one parent and 12 students will meet regularly to discuss differing ways people perceive the world about them; and world geography classes will be designed to emphasize the contributions to American culture made by people from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The use of these strategies is designed to facilitate the transition from secondary school to the world of work and/or continuing education and to raise the aspiration levels of economically and educationally disadvantaged students. Visits will be made to various industrial sites, and discussions with personnel will give the students a picture of what different jobs are like; visits will be made to college campuses for a day's activity; and a program of vocational exploration will be conducted as part of the English curriculum. A curriculum committee will plan for the establishment of an educational park, the facilities and programs of which will be such that they can readily be adapted to curriculum changes. The educational park will emphasize decentralized schools within a district and will provide cultural and recreational facilities that will be available to the entire community on a year-round basis. The park will also provide a location for social services provided by city, county, and private agencies. Counties served: Santa Clara. Further information: Frank Fiscalina, Superintendent, 12660 North Capitol Avenue, San Jose, California 95133. (408) 251-0570. COLORADO Denver: School District No. 1 City and County of Denver Improving Attitudes, Cultural Understanding, and the Opportunity for Achievement Through Educational Television. Planning Project: OE No. 66-1034; Amount Sought: $10,700. Description: A series of four television programs will be planned to trace the historical development and contributions of four minority ethnic groups in the Denver area. Further information: Dr. Kenneth E. Oberholtzer, Superintendent of Schools, Denver Public Schools, 414 Fourteenth Street, Denver, Colorado 80202. (303) 266-2255. Pueblo: School District No. 60 in the County of Pueblo Pueblo Intercultural Planning Project. Planning Project: OE No. 66–213; Amount Sought: $26,261. Description: A program, including panel discussions, classroom presentations, community concerts, art exhibits, and television programs, is to be developed for strengthening intercultural understanding and interpersonal relations in the community through the fine arts. The project director is to initiate studies of the size, geographic location, attitudes, and leadership of the various ethnic groups. On the basis of these studies, a committee is to involve groups representative of each of the subcultures of the community in presenting programs of their art, music, literature, history, and language. Estimated number of persons to be served: 100,000 persons (all ethnic and age groups in the community). Further information: Vernon Cochran, Administrative Assistant, 102 West Orman Avenue, Pueblo, Colorado (303) 542-2850. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA District of Columbia: Board of Education A Proposal To Plan an Inter-Disciplinary Resource Center on "The Negro Heritage." Planning Project: OE No. 67–2883; Amount Sought: $40,274. Discription: A program will be designed to utilize existing educational facilities and the Frederick Douglass Institute of Negro Arts and History as a supplementary curriculum resource for presenting educational materials to help the Negro develop pride in his heritage and to help counteract white prejudice towards the Negro. Educators, psychologists, and sociologists will help to develop a complete curriculum resource center which will provide a pilot teaching program, resource materials, and audio-visual aids. Further information: Joseph M. Carroll, Assistant Superintendent for Research, Budget and Legislation, 1411 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005. (202) ST 3-6111 Ext. 221. ILLINOIS Park Forrest: Park Forest Public Schools District No. 163 Center for Ethnic Studies. Operational Project: OE No. 68-6214; Amount Sought: $58,318. Description: To encourage more positive attitudes toward different ethnic, racial, and religious groups, a center for ethnic studies and human relationships will be established by the elementary school district. The center will conduct adult education programs, will provide curriculum materials for public and nonpublic area schools, and will work with community leaders to implement the programs. Programs for children in grades K-8 will emphasize positive attitudes toward people different from themselves. A parent-teacher workshop to study the nature of prejudice will be planned. Counties served: Cook. Further information: Irving S. Spigle, Assistant Superintendent, 242 South Orchard Drive, Park Forest, Illinois 60466. (312) 748-7050. RHODE ISLAND Providence: Public Schools of the City of Providence The Martin Luther King Cultural Center. Operational Project : OE No. 68–6771; Amount Sought: $23,339. Description: A summer program will be established for 360 disadvantaged adolescents to stimulate greater aesthetic interests and develop their potential |